Beyond ‘Thoughts And Prayers Radio’

How prepared are you if, heaven forbid, something like Parkland happens in your market?

I'm not going to limit this to talk radio. Every station, regardless of format, should be thinking about this. I've talked here about the need for emergency preparation before, but most people think of "emergency" as something weather-related. School shootings, transportation disasters, terrorist attacks... there are a lot of scenarios that qualify, even if we don't like to think about them. It's time we did.

This came to mind during Parkland, and I'm not going to talk about any specific station here, because some stations did indeed address the attack with all-out news coverage, and did it well. But I did notice some stations describing what they did in very non-specific terms like "reaching out to the community" and that kind of thing, and it reminded me of stations that kept playing music while their cities were flooding, or stations that just flipped the switch to carry audio from a local TV station, and other situations where it was clear that stations weren't prepared. But it's also the music stations that just offer vague supporting comments between the songs when something bad is happening. That's not public service, that's "Thoughts and Prayers Radio."

Whatever other stations and shows do, what's YOUR plan? Because Parkland can happen anywhere. Weather emergencies can happen anywhere. Trains can derail, planes can crash, roads can collapse, terror can strike anywhere. And, no, carrying the TV station's news coverage is not enough, because when they're putting critical information in visual form on the screen, your listeners can't see that.

I know, radio's cut back on news departments. You don't have the resources. You aren't known for news. People will turn to social media and TV. Okay, then, how about doing a town hall like CNN did after Parkland? You don't need a news department for that. How about, as some stations did in Miami after this attack, pulling your local officials into the studio or on the line and opening the phones? Do you have a page for emergency information on your website, and someone designated to post the news there and on social media? Is your station app capable of sending emergency information and alerts? Are you ready to do any of this at a moment's notice, or with no notice at all? Can you with any degree of certainty say what, exactly, your station would do when something momentous, bad or good, strikes in your town? And while we're at it, at the dry cleaners the other day, I saw a sign in the window for an Emergency Preparedness event coming up in my town; why not do one, with sponsorship, BEFORE anything happens, and establish yourself as the go-to medium for people who need information when something happens?

This is not just public service, it's the core of the radio business. The NAB tells the world how important radio is for emergencies, but in actual emergencies, too many stations just wing it. You need a detailed plan. You need a book with lists of who to call, who's gonna make the calls, who should be where and when. And you need to make sure, at regular intervals, that everyone in the building -- everyone, from on-air to sales (you CAN air paid sponsorships for emergency coverage, you know) to intern -- is familiar with everything in that book. You can't predict when you're going to need to put the plan into action, and every second is going to count.

Yeah, I sound like Howard Price now. I'll defer to him on specifics and the technical stuff -- he's the expert. But you really need to be ready. Let's hope that another Parkland never happens again, anywhere, but if it does -- if ANYTHING happens -- Thoughts and Prayers Radio isn't going to be enough.

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Until the next emergency, though, you need other stuff to talk about, which you'll find in great quantities at Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, accessible by simply clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. There's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts.

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I will see some of you on Thursday, March 8th at Don Anthony and Gabe Hobbs' Talk Show Boot Camp 9 in Dallas, where I will be on a panel moderated by Mike McVay and featuring Salem's Phil Boyce, WBAL/Baltimore's Scott Masteller, and Entercom/Dallas' Gavin Spittle. I will do what I usually do, annoy everyone. Then, at the Worldwide Radio Summit in Hollywood May 2-4, I'll be moderating a panel on the future of your career with Tom Leykis, Steve Goldstein, Rob Greenlee, Doug Reed, and Gina Juliano on hand; Register here, right now. After that, I'll be on a panel at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Convention attached to the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April, details to come, and involved in some way at The Conclave in/near Minneapolis, and at Podcast Movement in Philadelphia in July. You will run into me at some point. It's practically guaranteed.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
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Twitter @pmsimon
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